Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 3 Nutrition 93 Ingredients in Foods The information on a food label also includes all the ingredi- ents that were used to make that food. These ingredients are listed in the order in which they contribute weight to a given product. Ingredients that are listed fi rst make up a greater amount of the fi final product by weight than ingredients that appear near the end fi of the list. In other words, the closer the ingredient appears to the top of the list, the more of that ingredient in the food (Figure 3.17). Ingredient Names. Food manufacturers often list ingredients in somewhat confusing ways. This makes it harder to determine exactly what foods are in the product. For example, many different ingredients can add sugar to a food product. All of the following terms can be used to describe sugar that has been added to a food: corn syrup, p p corn sweetener, r r fructose, e dextrose, e high fructose corn syrup,p p lactose, e maltose, e sucrose, e malt syrup, p p molasses, honey, y y glucose, and e fruit juice concentrate. If you see any of these in the ingredient list, you know the food contains added sugars. Let’s take a real-world example to illustrate how different terms for sugar can be used in describing ingredients in a given product. One of the best-selling cereals in the United States lists the following fi ve ingredients first fi on its nutrition label: fi • whole-grain oats • sugar • modifi corn starch fied • honey • brown sugar syrup As you can see from this list, four of the top fi ve ingredients are a type fi of sugar. Can you guess what the sixth ingredient is? Salt. Do you think you might be able to find a more nutrient-dense cereal? fi Food Additives. Often food manufacturers add sugar, salt, or other ingredients to extend their product’s shelf life, improve its flavor, and for fl other reasons. Substances that are added to food products to cause desired changes are called food additives. f oo d additives The government regulates food additives and maintains a list of food additives that have proven to be safe. Additives on this list are generally generally recog g nized as safe f (GRAS). Food manufacturers must obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) F ood and Dru g Administration (FDA ) to use substances that do not appear on the GRAS list. Food additives must be included in the product’s ingredient list. If your goal is to avoid specifi c food additives, you can find fi them on the ingredient fi lists on food labels. Claims on Labels Sometimes food labels describe a particular food using a specific claim fi about its health benefits. For example, a label might describe a food as “low fi Food labels contain a great deal of information. Do you take advantage of having this information at your fi ngertips? Why or why not? Figure 3.17 food f additives substances added to food products to cause desired changes generally g recognized as safe (GRAS) food additives that have been studied and are considered harmless by the government Food F and Drug A Ad ministration (FDA) a government agency that regulates medications, biological products, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and radiation- emitting products